December 9, 2020
Today, the Best in Biz Awards announced Golden State Foods has won a Gold Award for Most Innovative Company of the Year 2020 in the category for large companies with 1,000 and more employees. As the only business awards program judged by independent panels of prominent news reporters and respected editors from top-tier publications, the Best in Biz Awards occur annually in two separate, geography-based programs, including North America (Canada and U.S.) and international (open to all companies anywhere in the world).
Focusing on innovations around patents, inventions, first-to-market developments, company culture, and policies, the recognition honors GSF and its family of companies for this year’s surplus bottled milk hunger alleviation initiative. In collaboration with GSF, CFM, and the GSF Foundation, KanPak U.S. led implementation of the company’s innovative efforts to bring shelf-stable milk to market in record time.
“We simply could not stand by while families went hungry and extra milk went to waste,” said Larry McGill, Chief Executive Officer, KanPak U.S. “After the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic last spring and so much widespread economic hardship in its wake, we saw an opportunity to help feed people in need. I want to thank all of our enthusiastic, relentless, and dedicated KanPak associates who made this effort come to life!”
GSF seized the opportunity to turn surplus milk into truckloads of relief for vulnerable families in Southern California and Kansas. As GSF’s dairy products company, KanPak drove remarkable speed to market by leveraging resources throughout the GSF family of companies and beyond. Proactively pursuing operational capacity to apply KanPak’s aseptic processing technology, the new product swiftly moved through regulatory approvals, package design, and quality assurance protocols in about one-quarter of the time typically required.
“Especially in times of great need, stepping up, getting involved, and helping others drives increased innovation as a fundamental part of what we do at GSF,” said Mark Wetterau, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, GSF. “We appreciate the KanPak team’s leadership for this incredible achievement, as well as the ongoing efforts of all GSF associates to innovate and help others in need. These contributions inspire continued innovation to support the positive impact we’re striving to make in the communities where we work and live.”
With a shelf life of up to nine months, the premium whole milk bottled in mid-2020 could continue nourishing families in the winter months ahead amid escalating demand for hunger relief. Since making the initial food bank donations in June, GSF and KanPak U.S. have now supplied millions of bottles of shelf-stable milk to U.S. food banks through donations via the GSF Foundation or by selling them at cost.